By Coach Tim Walker – I wrote an excellent article evaluating the Floyd Mayweather Junior vs. Shane Mosley fight. I literally covered every point. I worked on it for 5 straight days and was very proud of it in fact. As I attempted to forward it to Eastside my email server suffered a terminal error and the article, which was only stored on the server, was lost to annals of cyberspace to never be seen nor heard of again. Believe me, I worked diligently trying to retrieve it, restore it, and any other word beginning with “re” that I felt might help me find it. Alas, it is long gone. After several hours of trying to get it back, I attempted to rewrite the article. As some of you know, it is difficult to recapture your thought. Instead of beating myself up over it I decided to provide a quick synopsis..

Both fighters are super talented. They have no real weaknesses. They just have points, within their styles, that are less polished than others, but they are certainly good in every aspect of the game. Speed, (about) equal. Power, (maybe) Mosley. Ring generalship, Mayweather. Aggression, Mosley. Defense, Mayweather. In these specific areas one fighter may possess a level of expertise at a higher scale than the other but there are no wholes in either fighter’s game that clearly and obviously gives him an advantage in the whole fight. Having said that, there are two constants governing the physical nature of this bout: 1) Mosley will be aggressive, and 2) Mayweather will utilize his defense.

Mosley, the Trade OffMosley is a true talent but he can’t approach this fight from a purely aggressive standpoint. Doing that will make him one dimensional and as we know, whether we want to admit it or not, one dimensional fighters have very little chance against Mayweather. If he just presses against this type of opponent it will take less than a portion of a round for Mayweather to figure him out and capitalize. Instead, Mosley must trade off (if only a bit) of his aggression for strong mental acuity. He must be totally aware of everything going on in the ring at all times.

Mayweather, the Trade Off
Mayweather is a thinking man’s boxer. Not in the sense that if you don’t like him then you don’t have a brain, thinking in the sense of having an affinity towards the high boxing art of hit-and-don’t-be-hit. He fights at a very calm pace and typically evaluates the opposition, adjusts as needed, then punches. Even when having his opponent stunned he will not rush in for the kill. Whether many of want to admit it or not, he possesses a very high ring IQ. Still, in the fight he can not overanalyze. Why? Go back to the two constants governing the physical nature of this match. Mosley, is a constant pressure and if Mayweather spends more time than necessary evaluating he will, in the meantime, be getting hit by Mosley.

Final PointThis fight is not comparable to checkers, it is in fact a virtuoso chess match. I cornucopia of I do this, you do that. You do this, I do that. Based on this, In my opinion, this fight will boil down to a single defining trait, mental acuity. Mental acuity are those on the fly adjustments that reduces your opponents weaponry. The fighter who can eliminate the at the moment weapon of choice will have the clear advantage in mental acuity and in this fight.

Prediction
Truth be told, I can’t pick a winner. To me this fight is really that close. Sure, I have a preference of fighter but simply having an affinity towards a fighter is not ample reason to stand on it as fact. Instead, I will simply hope to see the best boxing match I have ever seen. For me, that will be enough. Now, it’s time to lay it on the line. We’ve debated for weeks and weeks. In one word or less let it be known. Who are you picking?

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